Final Fantasy VII: Before and After
by Tsumaru
Summary: FFVII told in a different way. Advent Children will be in it, as well as the regular game. Constructive criticism acccepted.
1. Break Out

Final Fantasy

VII: 

Before and After

"No, No, NO!" said a man with a white lab coat on, his long brown ponytail going down to his waist. "This clone looks nothing like Sephiroth! He's far too short, has blonde hair and he just doesn't look the part!" The failed clone looked out of his cloning tube, into the large laboratory, then to three other clones, which the professor was very pleased with. "Professor Hojo," said an assistant. "Where would you us to store the failed clone?" "Put him on the street." said Hojo. "He'll find a decent home on his own, but that's not my problem." "Yes sir."

The clone's eyes opened, and he expected to find himself in a dumpster by now, but he wasn't even damaged. The cloning team had thrown him out, which he'd never had suspected that he would do that. He got up, and walked in the back door to the cloning lab. The whole room was deserted. Blood was all over the floor in puddles, in a trail. The trail started at a cloning tube. It was labeled in bold letters: J.E.N.O.V.A

It must be another clone, thought the clone. He walked over to a destroyed tank, and saw the label: CLONE 4. It was crossed out though, and it had another name under it: Cloud. "Is this my name? Is this who I am? Just a clone? Something that didn't work and was tossed out into the streets?" Cloud said, his eyes widened. On the floor was a large sword, no more than 7 feet long. Attached to it was a not. It read:

Cloud, you and I are a lot alike, you know. Here is a gift. I ask you to destroy Hojo, and all of his other minions. He has disgraced the name of Sephiroth. He must pay! So, do you trust me? Why should you anyway? After all, the things you hold dear the most, is gone. It's your decision.

Elite SOLDIER member,

Sephiroth

Cloud finished reading the note, and tossed it on the floor. It said the things he held dearest to him were gone. Was he there on the street for that long? Surely not over a week he was unconscious. And who was this Sephiroth? Was he a clone too? It seemed as if the whole world was so new to him. He picked up the large sword, struggling a bit at the weight of the gigantic blade. Sephiroth said to destroy Hojo, Cloud thought. Wasn't he the professor? The one who cloned all of us? "I promise you, he will fall by my sword...

..._Sephiroth"_


	2. Encounter

Final Fantasy

VII:

Before and After

Part 1

Cloud stepped out of the laboratory, looked around at the cold streets. He walked around for a while, getting used to his surroundings. A young girl with a basket in her hands was getting pushed around by some big towering men in black suits. Cloud walked over and asked them why they were beating up the girl. "Official business," they said. Cloud was getting angry. It did not look like she did anything wrong. Just selling flowers! He picked up his sword and batted them away with the flat part, just as a warning. "It's not polite to mess around with innocent young women now is it gentlemen," Cloud said, preparing for another swing if they charged. "Now, tell me who's behind all this, or prepare for a bigger beating than that." he continued. "Mr. Hojo, and his cloning team..." said the scared man in black. "...just please, don't hurt us!"

The two men ran away, and Cloud checked out the girl. "You alright?" he asked her. "Yes. Thank you so much for saving me. My name is Aeris. What is yours?" she asked Cloud. "My name is Cloud. I'm on a search for a man called Hojo. He is a mad scientist who has been cloning someone named Sephiroth." Cloud said. "Okay, maybe I can help you get him." said Aeris. "I sure do hope so." Cloud said. "Oh! I almost forgot! Would you like to buy a flower? They're only one gil." Said Aeris, with a hopeful look in her eyes. "Sure, I'll buy one." said Cloud as he handed over a coin to the girl. "Thank you." she said as she handed Cloud a flower. Cloud started walking down a long road and finally came to a church. Aeris had told him she wanted to stop here before they started on their journey. She went in and said a quick prayer, then turned back to Cloud. "HEY! OPEN UP!" said a voice outside of the sanctuary door. Six men with armor and guns with them busted in the door and ran straight for Aeris. "Get the girl!" the main man yelled. Cloud suddenly jumped in front of Aeris and gripped his sword tight. "One more step, and you can say goodbye to one of your body parts! And lately, I've been favoring the head! So back away from the girl, and no one gets hurt!" Cloud yelled. The men did nothing of the sort. They started shooting at the two. "Get down Aeris!" Cloud said as he lifted his sword down, as it was wide enough to guard both of them. Bullets sprang off of the solid metal, and sparks flew. The guns soon ran out of bullets, and the men panicked. Cloud leaped up, slicing most of their heads off or their helpless bodies. Aeris helped too, fighting them with her metal bow. Five corpses lay dead on the floor, blood puddles under each one of them. "Oh my god..." stammered the last man as he started running. Cloud watched him leave.

The team left the empty sanctuary, continuing down a long pathway to a city called Midjun. What was to come next for the two heroes? Would Midjun hold happiness, or only despair...

...to be continued


	3. Answers

Final Fantasy

VII:

Before and After

Part II

The team continued down the long road to Midjun when they finally came to the vast city. Noise filled their ears as the walked past all of the streets and shops. But something just didn't seem right. Cloud could sense something bad in the area, but he couldn't put his finger on it. He was lost in thinking so much, he forgot to look where he was going and bumped into a large, black man with a gattling gun for a hand. "Yo!" the man said. "Look where ya goin'!" Cloud looked up, staring into the eyes of the large man, and was scared that he was the evil he was sensing. "Who are you?" he asked. "My name's Barret. Nice ta meet ya!" he stuck out his large and hand put put his out too, but Barret's hand far oversized his. "What's ya name, man?" Barret asked. "Cloud, Cloud Strife." Cloud replied. "Hi, I'm Aeris, Cloud's partner." Aeris said Barret, giving him a slight wave. "Nice ta meet you, too." He said back to her, grinning.

"Barret, I'm looking for a guy named Hojo. Ever heard of him?" Cloud asked Barret. "Yeah, wasn't he that mad scientist who escaped the day Sephiroth attacked his lab?" he replied. "I guess so," Cloud said to him, shrugging. "I was out cold the whole time." He looked back at Barret. "I think I can shed some light on that part." They all started walking, out of Midjun and into some old slums in an old raggedy city. "YO! TIFA!" Barret yelled into an old building. The sign in front said "Tifa's 7th Heaven" in old, scratched out letters. A young girl stepped out of the shack, and looked outside. "Barret? What're you doing here?" she asked Barret, giving him a smile. Cloud guessed she was about 17, judging from her size. "Listen, this spikey haired guy right here needs to know about the day Sephiroth attacked." He said. "Think you can tell 'im? The girl looked at Cloud, and nodded. "Yeah, why not?" she said. She came down the steps, and went in front of the group. "Okay, it goes like this..."

"Continue the experiments! We haven't the time for failure! Now go!" Hojo said in a rage. The employees scrambled back to their seats and went back to work. Hojo sighed, "Maybe things will be better next time if I got better employees!" "_There's not gonna be a next time" _said a man who crashed through the roof, holding his sword to his chest pointing straight down as he stabbed through one worker's whole body with his long sword. Blood sprayed out onto the floor as he took his sword out of the dead man's cracked skull. "What!?! Who the heck are you? What have you done to my employee?" Hojo cried out, staring in horror at all of the blood. "_You have disgraced the name of Sephiroth! How dare you clone me for your own reasons! You are a disgrace! A complete DISGRACE!"_ the man said angrily, raising his sword to Hojo. Hojo panicked, and ran out of the lab, screaming and yelping in horror._ "And you! You pathetic workers! Helping this man! How dare you!" _the man said ashe sliced all of the men to bits, blood spilling everywhere. The man walked over to the tank labled : J.E.N.O.V.A. and cut open the door. He dragged a metal encased bodyof its tank, but stopping at an empty tank. He wrote a small note and put it on a large sword, and putting the sword by the empty tank. He smirked evily, and dragged the body out of the door, leaving the lab.

"So that's it. That's the night of Sephiroth." Tifa said. "Thank you, thank you for the information." Aeris said. "Yeah, thanks." Cloud said. They all walked away, down another long road, and thinking of what to do next.

...to be continued


End file.
